


A Father's Touch

by Fumm95



Category: Nightbound (Visual Novel)
Genre: Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 01:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19757623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fumm95/pseuds/Fumm95
Summary: An additional conversation with Lord Elric upon arriving in Lamrian.





	A Father's Touch

**Author's Note:**

> I almost feel guilty posting this because I absolutely cried after chapter 13. Like, owwwwwww that hurt me so much and I’m still crying. But I love my Fae dad so much and he deserves to be memorialized in writing so here we are.
> 
> Again, inspired by the fact that you can get injured in chapter 10 (?) if you don’t pick the diamond option to summon the lake guardian, or whatever it was. And building off of my previous fic about the injury, A Helping Hand. (As such, this, like everything I write, will have some vague hints of Cal/MC.)
> 
> RIP Lord Elric.

Within Lamrian, Lord Elric walked about with the confidence and comfort of a man who owned the place… though given everything she had been told, that description was also pretty much true. Still, it did nothing to detract from her sudden sensation of being a young child, tagging alongside her indulgent parent, which, given the guiding hand on her arm as he led her through the impromptu tour, was also no less accurate.

Perhaps that was why she did not immediately notice when he led her away from the stairs, angling instead towards a quiet building with calming lights and the steady hum of magicks being cast.

It wasn’t until he stopped and gently took her arm in his hand that she realized that they were in an infirmary of some sort… and she remembered, with a faint accompanying jolt of pain, the laceration still roughly wrapped by the strips of Cal’s t-shirt.

“What happened, love?” She winced as he peeled off the cloth, feeling his fingers tighten in sympathy, or perhaps gentle admonishment. Regardless, his voice remained even, gentle. “Whatever it is was certainly quite filthy.”

Ducking her head, she gave a quiet chuckle. “I wouldn’t expect much else from zombies, to be fair.”

“Oh?” He glanced at her, a graceful eyebrow raised, though his hands never paused in their steady movements. “I would expect not, no. I can’t say it would the wisest to leave this untreated for much longer, though judging from your harried appearances, I would say it was well-done given the circumstances.”

“Yeah… We were in a bit of a hurry, what with that bloodwraith and all.”

“Indeed.” She followed as he led her towards a shelf and watched him rummage through what looked like an apothecary’s utopia. “Thankfully, it was minor enough that it should be easy enough to take care of. And your… werewolf friend did a good job.”

When she looked at him in surprise, he flashed an almost mischievous smile. “A good guess, considering the state of his shirt and your makeshift bandages.”

“Oh.”

His grin turned into something resembling a smirk. “I will say that he seems to be quite fond of you as well, even from what little I’ve seen of him.”

“Daaaaaaaaad.” The whine slipped from her mouth without thinking and, for a moment, his hands stalled, cheeks flushing faintly and eyes almost unnaturally bright. She froze, her brain catching up to her mouth, but before she could stutter out some sort of explanation, he shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“Very well. Enough of that.” As he led her to sit on one of the nearby chairs, she glanced at him to find his eyes twinkling with amusement. “At least for now.”

It was a mesmerizing process, watching Lord Elric—her father—work. He moved with confidence, fingers sure and methodical, even as he took the time to keep a warm, reassuring gaze on her, looking up time and time again with a soft, almost wondrous smile and seemingly completely unaware of the movement and not-so-subtle glances from what were presumably the Fae equivalent of doctors around them, particularly after her sudden outburst.

She must have stared longer than she realized; he paused, clearly turning his undivided attention to her. “You have a question, love?”

“What? How did you…?”

His laugh was, like everything else about him, warm and delicate, but there was sadness there, a deep, permanent longing that filled her with a strange melancholy. “You have a little crease in your brow when you’re thinking intensely, just like Jacqueline.” Caught off-guard, she blinked, and he chuckled under his breath. “Please, do not feel afraid to ask me whatever you wish.”

“All right…” Sighing, she grabbed her braid with her free hand, toying with the end. “Ummm… I mean no offense, but it seems like there are plenty of others who could take care of a little scratch, and I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other things to do, as the leader of Lamrian and all…”

“Perhaps, but I can’t help but find that they all take a backseat to spending more time with you, love. There is nothing urgent enough to warrant diverting my attention, I promise you. Though now that this is finished, I think you’ve earned your rest.”

She hummed, relaxing as Lord Elric squeezed her shoulder, and grinned at him. “Don’t you have any questions though? I feel like all I’ve done is ask you about everything.”

With a small shrug, he smiled. “Certainly, as many as any father who just discovered their adult child, no doubt. But I would expect that you have even more, given your lack of familiarity with my, and now _our_ , world. My questions can wait until you are comfortable and rested.” A slender hand patted her cheek, somehow soft and paternal without a hint of condescension. “Besides, now that you are here, we have a lifetime to get to know each other, no?”

Laughing, she followed him back through the twisting corridors, her heart too full for conversation, but they didn’t need it. At the foot of the staircase, he paused, waving a graceful hand towards the upper floor. “Your room should already be prepared.”

Without thinking, she stepped forward, wrapping him in a hug that he returned with equal warmth. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Welcome home, love.”


End file.
